The "Not Made in China" Thread

[RichinRidgewood]

Even before this current mess we are in I have made a concerted effort to not buy any food products that were made in China as well as other offshore an questionable locations India, Thailand etc. (example: Thai/Laotian ditchwater shrimp aka "white shrimp" "tiger shrimp" etc.) Only the nice big pink Gulf shrimp for us.

Now I'm checking each product that I buy and specifically look for "Made in the USA", "Made in Japan" "Made in Canada" "Made in EU countries" etc. I use "Made in USA" in my searches.

Todays butane lighters suck. They didn't used to suck. But they are now made in China and they suck. I have a few that are almost full and they wont light.

I bought these Zippos NEW, Made in Pennsylvania, and they will out live me. I'll never have to worry about starting the charcoal again.

 

[Deuxdiesel]

Not only are they made here, but there is an undeniable cool factor with a Zippo. Most BIC lighters are made here as well.

 

[Brick Sprickly]

This ship sailed years ago and we'll likely never get it back.

While it's good to buy American when you can, it's pretty much impossible due to our shift into being a consumer society from a manufacturing one. Loads of companies were allowed to move production overseas for cheap labor specifically because American consumers demand lower prices and there's no legal obligation for business owners to keep jobs here.

The bottom line is the bottom line.

 

[Jernik]

This ship sailed years ago and we'll likely never get it back.

While it's good to buy American when you can, it's pretty much impossible due to our shift into being a consumer society from a manufacturing one. Loads of companies were allowed to move production overseas for cheap labor specifically because American consumers demand lower prices and there's no legal obligation for business owners to keep jobs here.

The bottom line is the bottom line.

Chicken and egg question... did the consumer demand lower prices, or did companies demand bigger profits? I suspect the latter has the most influence on where product is manufactured.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Big box stores helped this trend, driving out competitors, then their profits went up as they slowly raised their prices back up. Then when you can exploit poor countries and their labor pool, it got even worse. China made a conscious effort to flood our market with cheap crap too, which further drove any competitors we had here out, because god forbid a CEO and board of directors make less than several million a year. The lobbyists padding politicians wallets to garner favorable votes to lessen tariff restrictions played into this as well.
Why do Lobster fisheries pay tariffs to export to Europe, while Canadians harvesting the same Lobsters pay none. This has been going on for a long time. We've been just too busy playing video games and watching football to pay attention.

 

[Bumbo]

I try to buy American... If you like electronics, this is especially hard.

That said, I do put my money where my mouth is.

Emotiva home theater processor - Designed and and manufactured in the USA.

 

[Deuxdiesel]

Some activities are easier to find Not Made in China than others. I have never run across Chinese-made rock climbing hardware, and much of the ski and snowboard industry make products in Europe as opposed to here. The bicycle industry is heavily biased towards China or Taiwan. I play in a Vintage Base Ball league (1860's rules, like base ball was meant to be played) and the majority of the bats are manufactured in Columbus OH. Of course if you have enough money, you can have anything you want made in the US.